A Window to the Soul
by UnbridledMoon
Summary: Hermione performs an unknown feat of magic by accident, bringing Severus back to life after the final battle. Four years later she returns to Hogwarts as the Transfiguration Mistress.
1. chapter 1

Hermione stepped off the Hogwarts Express and looked up at the castle in the distance. It had been almost twelve years ago that she had stepped through its front doors and into the world of magic. This was where she had learned all she could before having to leave; she had read all the books in the library. She had been a constant surprise and annoyance to most of her teachers. She smiled ruefully, well, almost all of her teachers. Professor McGonagall had never gotten tired of her constant questions. The witch had dealt with her with the patience of a saint, and everyone knows that that had not been an easy thing to do.

The only other teacher that never seemed to mind her questions was Snape. Oh he minded at first, but by the last few years of school he had learned to tune her out. If she had a question, he would merely wave his wand, and her book would open to the page containing the answer. It had been almost a game to her, to see if she could ever stump the Potions Professor. An unsuccessful venture, until five years ago.

 _The Hogwarts battle had just ended, and as she looked around there was only one thing was on her mind. They could not just leave Severus' body in the boat house. Not after all he had sacrificed and gone through for their cause. He deserved a proper burial along with all the other fallen heroes that day. When she got down to the boathouse she stared down at his prone body and the tears began to fall. Who would have ever thought that he was the bravest of them all? He had loved Lily Potter so much that he had been willing to become a spy for the Order. If that was not devotion, then she did not know what was, and he deserved better than to be killed by Nagini. The next thing she knew her wand was pointed at him, a burst of light shot from the tip, and Severus Snape had gasped in a breath. Ironically, her first thought was not about what had just happened. It was about the fact that she had told Harry ages ago that wands did not act of their own accord. Now it seemed that she would have to apologize to him about it. It hit her that Snape had been dead, and that dead people do not breathe or stare up at you in utter bewilderment. Then she asked him the one question that still confused people five years later, the question that had stumped him. What in the hell just happened? When she seen that he was still bleeding heavily through the wounds in his neck she ripped off a piece of her sweater and held it to his neck. She then hoisted him up on his feet and all but dragged him to the Great Hall. As soon as they stepped through the doors she yelled for Madam Pomfrey. That had of course, caused everyone to look over at her and the man she was supporting. By then everyone knew that he had not been a traitor to the Order; that he had been acting on Dumbledore's orders. However that was not what was causing all of them to look dumbstruck at them. After all, it wasn't everyday that someone brought back the recently deceased, and not know how they did it. Poppy rushed over and took him from her and put him on a litter. She then took him to St. Mungo's, along with all the other injured. While there the healer's ran all sorts of tests and spells to see what had happened. Everything had come back normal, and everyone had chalked it up to being an amazing feat of magic. Everyone that is, except for Hermione Granger and Severus Snape. They both combed through the Hogwarts library trying to find an answer. Then when that proved fruitless they expanded their search to any know wizarding library in Brittan, all to no avail. There was no mention of anything like that happening in any of the thousands of books they had been through. When she told him that she was done looking they had a huge argument. She wanted to continue on with her life while he wanted her to help him keep looking. Eventually she won and he had stormed out of her flat, never to be seen by her again._

Hermione was jerked back to the present by someone calling her name. She looked up to see Headmistress McGonagall walking towards her, and scolding a few rambunctious second years in the process.

She walked over and met her near the end of the platform, "Hello Professor, how are you on this fine day?"

"Could be worse I suppose. Now, are you ready to start the new year, do you have everything in order at home?"

"Of course Professor, you know me. I got lucky; someone wanted to buy my flat as soon as I put it on sale. Otherwise I would have had to make payments on it when I'm not living there." McGonagall looked at her and frowned. "Oh do not give me that look. I have wanted to move for a while now. How is Professor Snape, if you do not mind my asking?"

The older witch looked down at her and sighed, "I do not really know, he seems to be fine when we see him. He rarely comes to dinner, and unless he has class he is shut up in his chambers. When he does come out he rarely talks to anyone, he just goes to the library. Under the circumstances though, I think he deserves what he wants."

Hermione bit her bottom lip and looked away. It was really her fault that he was even here in the first place. If she had just let someone else go down to the boathouse that night he would not be like this. "Maybe I can try to talk to him, see what is going on inside that head of his."

"I take it the two of you still have not talked? That might be for the best at the moment, last time you two were together you tore each other to pieces."

"That was almost five years ago Professor, he should be over it by now, I know I am." Hermione watched as Hagrid rounded up all the first years and herded them towards the boats. "Besides, he got a second chance at life. Something a lot of people would pay for."

"You know how he can hold a grudge Miss Granger; it is after all, Severus Snape. From his point of view you robbed him from his much deserved reprieve from this world." McGonagall turned and started striding up to the castle, leaving Hermione to try and catch up.

"One thing though Professor would not his yelling at me be better than not talking to anyone. At least then we would know what he is thinking."

"Sometimes Miss Granger, it is better not to know."

Hermione fell silent and contemplated about what she should do while she followed McGonagall up to the school.

"These will be your new rooms, they have not been used in a while so I had the house elves air them out," McGonagall said as she led Hermione into a suite just off the astronomy tower. "Sorry they are up so high, but you did mention a new found interest in star-gazing. Therefore I figured this suite would suit the best."

"It's perfect Professor, thank you." She looked around the spacious room they had entered. It was easy to tell that no one had used the room in quite a while, the musty smell still lingered from being closed up for so long. The walls were painted a light blue with white furniture to match. One wall was nothing but windows looking out over the lake and forest, while another had a large bookshelf built into it. "Who used these rooms before me?"

"An old astronomy teacher I believe, her name was Ilisa. She could not stand to be close to the bottom floors so Dumbledore set her up in here. She retired a long time ago. Well, I will leave you to your unpacking. Dinner is served at its usual time, unless of course you would prefer to eat in here. Your first class starts at eight tomorrow morning, an eager young group of first years. I believe you remember how the first few days go."

"Only too well," she laughed. "I'm sure it's nothing I cannot handle. After the Cornish pixie incident in second year, they should be relatively easy. As for dinner, I guess I will see after I get settled in. Thank you again, Professor, it is good to be back."

"It is good to have you back Hermione," McGonagall said as she breezed out the door.

Continuing in her exploration she headed farther into her suite. The next room she came to was a small kitchen, furnished with a stove, fridge, and a small table for two. She smiled and shook her head, thinking it was likely that Ilisa had hated to go downstairs for meals. Either way it suited her just fine, she could go buy some groceries and cook for herself instead of having the house elves do it. Off of the kitchen, through a set of French doors, was a small balcony that had probably been used for star gazing. The next room she came to was just off the kitchen on the right and was her bedroom. There was a large four poster bed made out in blue and grey plaid sheets on one side, while on the other was a small hearth and two arm chairs. Off to one side was the bathroom, which could only be described as functional. In it was a simple stand-in shower that took up half of the room with just enough room left for the sink and toilet. She smiled ruefully, grateful for the fact that she didn't have a whole lot of cosmetics. Turning around she headed back into the kitchen and opened up the cabinets to see how much room she had, only to find all of them filled already. She sorted through it and found that there were all the ingredients to make most of her favorite dishes.

Deciding to unpack later she pulled out a set of black teaching robes and donned them. Then made her way down through the castle and out to the lakeside, watching Hagrid bring the first years across. Remembering how scared she had been on the boat ride, that there had been some kind of mistake. Now seeing the excited and nervous looks on the faces of the students she would soon be teaching made her smile. They had no idea the kinds of adventures that they would have, or of the trouble they would get into. Hearing the excited murmurs as they all climbed out of the boats she looked down at her watch and seen that it was time to head back for the feast. Waving at a beaming Hagrid she made her way back to the Great Hall and found her seat next to Neville.


	2. Chapter 2

**First off I apologize that it took so long to update. On top of losing my job, my son started having problems with his hearing and his speech as a result of it, then my computer quit, taking several chapters with it. I have been having to redo everything on my phone in between appointments with ENTS and such. The next updates should not take as long in coming. Thanks.**

"Hey Hermione! Congratulations on your appointment, from what I heard you beat out quite a few applicants." Neville said from her right, jerking her from her study of Severus's seat, which was currently occupied by Slughorn.

" Thanks Neville, how have you been?"

" Oh you know, working in the greenhouses. I have quite a good selection coming up this year, better than even Sprout had when we were here." He replied excitedly, waving his hands about. " I even have some plants that don't usually grow in this climate coming up, they are harder to keep up, but worth every minute."

She beamed at him, "That's great Neville! I will have to come down sometime and see them. Um, on a different topic, why is Slughorn in Severus's seat?"

He glanced down the table at the seat in question before shrugging, "He came back last year to teach potions. I think Snape decided he wanted to work on other things."

"Other things, any ideas on what those are?"

Neville darted a quick look behind her and shook his head. She turned around to see Malfoy sitting down beside her. _Great just the person I wanted to see_ , she thought sarcastically.

"Can I help you Malfoy?"

"Just came to see if the rumors were true, that you finally came back to face Godfather. Especially after running away last time."

"I don't run away from things Malfoy. I simply decided to live my life as I see fit, not searching for answers that aren't there. And what is this about facing him? He walked out of my apartment and never tried to contact me again. Despite my letters trying to stay in touch."

"You wrote to him?" The incredulous look on Malfoy's face portraying his disbelief. "Look, just stay away from him, you've caused enough damage the way it is."

With that Malfoy got up and strode out of the Great Hall. She looked over at Neville who was staring at the table, "Any idea what he's talking about?"

"Look 'Mione, it's not really my place to say anything. But after Snape spent those two weeks in the hospital wing he's been distant, closed off in his rooms, and is looking rather haggard. No one is sure what's gotten into him, but Malfoy would be your best shot at finding out."

Looking down the table, she noticed that McGonagall was staring at them with a frown. Shaking her head she got up, strode out of the Great Hall through the front doors, and into the courtyard. Spying Malfoy taking off on his broom she rushed over and grabbed his cloak, jerking him back down. She watched him struggle to get back on his feet while cursing.

"What in the hell Granger! Are you trying to kill me? Do you know how dangerous that is?"

"Oh don't be so dramatic, you were barely six feet off the ground. Now what exactly were you talking about in there? What kind of damage have I supposedly done?"

He sneered at her, "Why in the hell should I tell you? After all you have done, that would be just a little too easy for you. Besides, I'm sure you already know."

Exasperated she threw her hands up in the air and huffed, "Know what?!"

" The effects a dark magic spell like that has on the person on the receiving end when they are away from the-"

"That will be enough Draco," Professor McGonagall said sharply from the front steps. "I thought you had left for London already."

"What, and miss all this excitement? I just stopped to have a little chat with Granger is all."

" That will not be necessary, I am sure Miss Granger would like to rejoin the feast. The sorting ceremony is about to begin."

"Really Professor, I'd much rather hear what he has to say," Hermione interjected somewhat forcefully.

"Yes well, that is not possible at this time, I have to introduce you to everyone. That will be all Draco."

With a nod of his head in their direction and a lingering look of puzzlement at Hermione he mounted his broom and took off into the night. When she rounded on the Headmistress it was to find her already gone. Sighing in frustration she walked back inside and to her seat.

After the formalities of the evening were over in the food was served Hermione tried once again to question Neville. The only insight she had gotten was that when Severus returned to Hogwarts after their argument he had gotten sick and ended up staying in the hospital wing for two weeks. After that he had never talked about what had happened, and if someone else had mentioned her name he would promptly end the conversation and leave. She knew he had more knowledge about the situation than he was letting on, but decided to let the issue rest. Listening to the small tidbits of conversation from the people at the table hinted that they knew what was going on as well. It wasn't until after the feast was over that she overheard a few teachers talking about her amongst themselves.

"So that's her eh, the one Severus won't talk about?" Asked a woman she didn't recognize.

"Yes that is her, her name is Hermione Granger. She is considered to be the brightest witch of her age, and is also the brains behind the Golden Trio in their victory over Voldemort."

"Slughorn old man, you're forgetting the main thing, she brought him back to life. Now I don't know about you two but I'm eager to meet her." Said a tall man with his back to her.

"I know her, she used to be part of the Slug Club. Only the best and brightest you know," Slughorn said puffing his chest out.

"Yes yes, we all know the infamous Slug Club. Do you think he didn't show up because she is here? It's all very interesting you know, I wonder what happened between the two of them. Come Slughorn, introduce us to her."

She looked up to see them slowly headed in her direction and thinking fast walked over to where Hagrid stood and tried to start up a conversation with him. Her hopes were in vain though when she heard Slughorn clear his throat and interrupt them.

"My dear Miss Granger, may I introduce Professor Hazleton and Professor-"

"Quentin Declyn, at your service madam." Interjected the tall man, grabbing her hand and kissing her knuckles, "It is a pleasure to meet the famous Hermione Granger."

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you both as well," She said drawing her hand back. "How are you Professor Slughorn, I would have thought you would have retired by now?"

"Me as well my dear, but duty calls," He chuckled. "You must come to one of my club meetings, it would be a delight to have you again."

"I will see what I can manage. I still have to get settled and all, I'm sure you understand."

"Of course, of course, the first few weeks of a new term are always hectic," He mumbled spying a platter of desserts on another table, and wandering off. "If you all will excuse me I would like to try one of those."

The conversation turn to the classes they were each going to be teaching and how many students they were going to have. Eventually the woman drifted off leaving just Hermione and Quentin alone. She's not quite put her finger on it but something about the man made her feel uncomfortable. Not wanting to stay in his company for long she excused herself acting as though she was tired. Making her way through the castle she wandered around trying to figure out what was going on with Severus. Without realizing it she walked to the kitchens, an old haunt when she was trying to free the house elves in her fourth year. Settling on a course of action she reached forward and tickled the pear, getting swarmed by eager house elves when the portrait swung open.

"Whats can we be doing for Professor Granger?" An older one from the back of the crowd asked.

"I was just wondering is Severus had had his dinner sent to him yet?"

"Not yet he hasn't, we was just fixing to take it up."

"Is there any way you would let me take it to him? And could one of you show me the way?"

After a round of complaints from all the way around her, she finally managed to talk them into helping her, and a short while later they stood in front of a nondescript door on the second floor. The small house elf nodded to her and disappeared with a faint pop. Looking up and down the hallway and seeing no one around, she knocked on the door and waited. Hearing a faint dismissal from within she shook her head and knocked again. When there was still no answer she started banging on the door until a few minutes later when he finally opened it. Her first thought was that he had lost too much weight and was not getting enough sleep. The circles under his eyes were in sharp contrast to the paleness of his face and his cheekbones stood out prominently. When he seen he was at his door he slammed it shut in her face. Staring at the door an outrage she began pounding on it, " Severus Snape you open this door right now!"

"In case you didn't hear me the first time, I said go away," a voice growled from the other side of the door.

"If that's how you want to play it fine. I'll stand out here yelling and making a racket and then everyone will be privy to what I want to talk to you about. I'm sure it'll be making rounds by morning." As predicted he opened the door with a glower on his face. "Good, now that that's settled you can start by telling me why you weren't at the feast."

"I don't believe that is any of your business," He drawled, crossing his arms.

"Well seeing as I heard Professor Hazleton say that it was due to my being there I do believe that it is my business. Of course that was after the cryptic little remarks from Malfoy before McGonagall stopped him."

Looking at the way his face was set into a scowl she could tell he wasn't going to let any information go. Deciding to ask forgiveness versus asking permission, she shoved past him and into his rooms. They looked like a war zone, books were strewn everywhere, some of them held open with ingredients or by cups. It looked as if no none had cleaned in weeks from all the clothes, dust, and ash. "I take it you're still looking?"

"Well at least I don't just give up on something halfway through it."

"Found anything yet?" She asked picking up a heavy tome in a language she didn't understand.

"No."

" Well then you won't mind if I clean up a bit." She took out her wand and just as she was about you cast the charm an iron hand closed around her wrist.

"I do mind, I mind you being in my room without permission."

"And I mind you closing yourself off from everyone and not living the life you were given a second chance at! If the mere thought of my presence or my name being mentioned bothers you that much then maybe me being in your rooms will chase you out of them. Now you can either tell me that the hell is going on or I can stay here and wait until you do." She jerked her wrist out of his hand and walked over to his armchair and sat down. "What exactly happened after our argument? I heard that you were sick for two weeks and couldn't leave the hospital wing. You were perfectly healthy when you stormed out of my house that evening."

Severus stared at the witch currently invading his rooms and scowled. The insolent chit was twirling her wand around her fingers, a seemingly innocent action until he noticed that things were starting to tidy up. The dust and ash were already gone by the time he noticed and the books had started organizing themselves. She returned his scowl with a worried look.

"You have lost quite a bit of weight Severus, and apparently you aren't getting enough sleep. McGonagall said that you are rarely seen if at all. Now I'm no expert but that is a little odd and not just to me. People are beginning to talk, especially now that I'm here. Then the comments from Malfoy about me causing you damage…" She looked around the room," Ah, now that is much better."

He didn't say anything, just stood there staring at her. How could he explain it when he didn't even know what was going on? The closest thing he had found had been an ancient binding spell from the Dark Ages, one that hadn't been used in centuries due to people often dying as an outcome. Which meant that there was no way Granger would have known about it. Even then it hadn't been about bringing people back to life the way she had. It merely made a reference to people suffering as he had when put under a binding spell and then forced away from the caster. He had said something to Draco about it; maybe the hot head had taken it as that was what she had done and was the reason he had been getting sick the past two years. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his headache that had been fading coming back full force.

"They must be mistaken. I am neither avoiding you nor worrying about you being brought up in conversation." It was a lie of course, he had been avoiding the topic mainly due to the innumerable questions that usually followed. "As for dinner tonight, I had a migraine and did not wish to listen to students yelling and cheering for hours."

She was staring at him as if she was seeing right through him, " Have a migraine every night do you?"

 _For the most part yes_ , he thought to himself. "I have a lot of work and research as you can see."

"Shutting the world out won't help Severus, it'll only make it worse. When was the last time you had a good nights sleep?"

Thinking back no answer came to him. It had been months for sure and that was simply due to a sleeping draught. Usually his rest consisted if a few hours here and there whenever he couldn't hold his eyes open any longer. "My sleeping patterns are none of your concern. Neither is anything else about my life."

"I see. So the fact that you look like skin draped over bones is not to be of concern? Or the giant dark bags under your eyes? The last time I seen you you were in almost perfect health. What in the hell happened that you let your health go like that? Even during the war you took better care of yourself."

"Miss Granger you are perilously close to being forcibly removed from my rooms."

"Hermione. I have a name Severus and it doesn't begin with miss. Anyways I brought you dinner and I'm not leaving until you eat some of it. Even if it takes all night." She said walking over to the plate and handing it to him.

"I do believe I told the house elves that I was not hungry tonight," He replied. Setting the plate back down on the table untouched.

"Well fortunately for you I'm not a house elf."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Severus glared down at the plate then over at Hermione, remembering her penchant for getting what she wanted. There was no way that he would be able to eat any of the food on the plate without it promptly coming back up. He had only been able to eat the blandest of foods for several months. "I have potions that can provide me with all the nutrients my body requires. If you would like, you can watch me drink one and then your requirements will have been met."

"By all means, drink one. However, you and I both know that that's not a sustainable method. Eventually your body will start rejecting the potions. From the looks of it it's already starting to happen. Are you still getting sick?"

"Obviously. Your habit of stating the obvious clearly hasn't changed any." He replied snidely, sitting down in one of the few chairs that occupied the room. A chair that had been previously covered in books and empty potion bottles.

He watched her walk over to his bookcase and pull out a tome. She leafed through it, the frown marring her brow becoming more prominent as she did so. "This is very dark magic Severus. What do you need a book like this for? This should be stored in the Department of Mysteries."

"You can read it?" He asked incredulously, quickly sitting up in his seat. "I haven't even been able to decipher any of it, the damn thing is in ancient Sumerian."

A nervous chuckle left her mouth, "This particular section is describing a ritual used to enhance magical powers by- Oh that's brutal. You have to rip the soul out of another person and join it with yours… Do you mind if I borrow this for a while? Since you can't read it."

"How is it that you can read Sumerian, Granger? Very few wizards alive can, they don't share the knowledge easily, and none of them live in this region." He pushed, his curiosity piqued for the first time in years.

She turned and studied him for a moment, a small smile playing on her lips. "Hermione. You have your secrets and I have mine. What makes you think I'll let go of any of mine when you won't?"

" What are you suggesting?"

"Simple, you answer my questions and I'll answer yours. All in confidence you understand, what I've been up to isn't public knowledge, even for the Ministry."

"How does one work at the Ministry without them knowing about it?"

"Well Kingsley knows about it, but he owed me a hell of a favor so he kept his silence." She sat down across from him and tilted her head to the side, "What do you say Severus?"

"I suppose, if it's going to get you out of my rooms sooner. However, if at any time I stop this foolishness then I will hear no complaints from you."

"Deal!" She said with a smile, "Now will you answer any of the questions I asked or should I start again?"

"I should have know I was going to be going first," He sighed. "Fine, I don't eat because ninety-five percent of the time it doesn't stay down. I got tired of having a raw throat. I do have migraines on a fairly regular basis, which makes staying in a dark and quiet room almost a necessity. As for sleeping, I'm sure you know how well that works with an aforementioned migraine. I try to avoid mention of you in conversations due to the insufferable questions that follow. Anything else?"

She shook her head, frowning once again. "Not at the moment. Although I do know some recipes as well as a few eating guides designed for an upset stomach. If you're interested, that is. Growing up in the Muggle world does have its advantages. Now, what would you like to know?"

"I'll keep that in mind. What department were you working in?"

"The Department of Mysteries."

"And just how Is one allowed to leave the D.o.M. with their memories intact?" He watched as a hard look came across her face before a pulse of magic surged out of her like a tidal wave. Shifting things around the room, and knocking his chair over backwards. He heard her jump up and rush over to him offering her hand to help him up. Pushing it away he climbed out of the overturned chair and set it to rights, his mind racing. "I've been around children who were not in complete control of their magic for more years than I'd have liked. In all that time I have never seen someone lose complete control of their magic as you just did. Would you care to explain what just happened?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Like you said, a minor lapse in control."

He knew she was lying. After spending years as a double agent he knew all the cues to look for. He looked over at the fireplace and watched the flames dance for a brief moment before making his mind up. Without turning around, he drew in a deep breath and pushed his mind towards hers.

Hermione hadn't expected him to believe her. She had expected him to start demanding answers, how had she done it, why had she done it. What she hadn't expected was that he would use legilimency, and if it wasn't for a brief tickling sensation in the back of her mind he would have succeeded. She instinctively threw her shields up, forcing him from her mind, knowing the backlash would be like a shock of electricity to his brain. If it wasn't for the slight movement in his shoulders, she would have thought him immune to it.

"I'm sorry, Severus. That was a conditioned response to legilimency, one that was learned the hard way. I hope you understand why I can't let you into my head, it would do more harm than good." She said wringing her hands together, just barely suppressing the urge to start fidgeting in her seat.

"Because of all the secrets you have stored in there?" He all but growled, spinning around.

"No, because since I unbound my magic it's still mostly reacting based on my emotions. I can't afford to have you pulling up a memory that has negative emotions tied to it. There's no telling what would happen. Otherwise I'd be more than happy to let you poke around in there." She felt his stare like a thousand pound weight. "Don't look at me like that, I didn't have much of a choice."

"Didn't have much of a choice? Do you realize how dangerous that is? Not even Voldemort in all his delusions of grandeur attempted it! You shouldn't even be here right now, who knows what will happen if you lose control of it!" He was standing up and yelling by the time he was done.

"Yes, I do know how dangerous it is, I'm lucky that someone felt the surge of magic, found me, and took me to St. Mungos. McGonagall knows about it, I informed her before she hired me. We're hoping the ancient magics permeating Hogwarts will help my magic stabilize," she answered calmly. "It was the only option I could find for being able to leave the D.o.M. Since I wasn't given a choice in joining I knew I wasn't going to get the option to be obliviated. So I let them run their little tests on me, and in return I got to do all the research I wanted. That's where they messed up, you see, they didn't monitor what I was researching. After I unbound my magic I went in and put a memory block on anyone who had knowledge of me being there. I got all the files that even mentioned my name and burnt them. Not my most graceful moment, I should have kept them. You could have looked over them to see if they would have been helpful."

"You weren't given a choice to join?" He questioned in a dark tone.

Just as she was opening her mouth to answer, there was a green flare of flames and McGonagall walked out of the fireplace looking frazzled. "What in the world is going on in here? You two have set off all of the castle's alarms, even the ones at the Ministry. I had aurors in my office. Honestly, if you can't control yourselves around each other then I must insist you stay separated."

Hermione looked down at the stone floor and sighed, "I'm sorry Minerva, maybe me being here isn't the best idea after-"

"It's my fault. I wasn't aware of the situation and pushed harder for information than I should have. Her magic reacted instinctively to protect her. Now that I know, it won't happen again." Severus cut her off smoothly, causing her to jerk her head up in surprise to stare at him. He minutely shook his head at her, telling her to be silent.

"Yes well, make sure it doesn't, and if you two are going to continue this conversation might I suggest that you move it to her rooms. We have extra wards placed there for just such an occasion." Minerva looked at both of them with a frown, then turned and went back through the fireplace.

"Well I suppose that concludes this conversation. Thank you for taking the blame like that, but we both know it wasn't it your fault. Let me know if you want those recipes. Until next time," she said as she walked over to the fireplace. Grabbing a pinch of floor powder she tossed it into the fireplace and started to walk through when she felt a hand grab her arm and follow her. "What are you doing, Severus? You heard Minerva."

"I did, we also had a deal. I answered your questions, now it's time for you to finish answering mine."


	4. Chapter 4

He watched as she walked past him into the small kitchen, gathering the necessities to make tea. "What do you want to know?"

"For starters, what you meant when you said you weren't given a choice in joining."

After she filled the kettle and places it on the stove she turned back towards him, "Originally I was given a choice, my answer was no. We were too busy looking for an explanation for what happened that night. Then shortly after I gave up the search Kingsley passed the Recruitment Act. It was supposed to help fill the holes left in the Ministry after all of Voldemort's followers had been weeded out. Of course Harry, Ron, and I signed up. I wanted to go into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Croaker decided that it was his chance to recruit me. They grabbed me from my flat one night and forcibly inducted me."

"Those oaths require acquiescence," Shape said, a dark look crossing his features.

"Oh and they had it, Croaker is quite good with the Imperius curse. At least he was, I don't think he'll be doing much spellwork anymore. In just a few moments I was an Unspeakable…" Her voice trailed off as the kettle started whistling, she filled two cups and sat them on the small table by the window. "He's in St. Mungos, they think he messed with time too much and it drove him crazy."

"And naturally you couldn't go to anyone in the Auror department, the Department of Mysteries doesn't answer to anyone but themselves."

"That is correct," she sighed, pulling out a chair and sitting down. " Have a seat, the tea will get cold."

"What exactly did he want from you?" Severus asked quietly, sitting down across from her. He watched as her face went blank, as though she was retreating into herself to block out any emotion.

"Tests, he wanted to run tests on me. At first they were fairly harmless, blood tests, stress tests and such. When they didn't yield the result he wanted he resorted to uglier methods. His favorite was legilimency. In the beginning it was with just him, then others started joining in. They would all try and enter my mind at once, hoping something would shift or change and give him the answers he wanted. There were days afterwards when I was barely coherent. He'd wait about two weeks for me to recover, then do it all over again. I overheard them talking a few days before they were "scheduled" to try again. Jacob was worried that they were close to breaking my mind, that I'd be stuck at St. Mungos permanently. The next day was the solstice and with all my research complete I went through with my plan. Did you know that when you unbind your magic it takes over and heals everything? Even as I was lying there dying I could think clearer than I had in over a year."

"Who found you?"

"Harry did. He and Ron became worried when I stopped talking or responding to their letters. He had an Auror shadowing me to make sure everything was ok. He alerted Harry that I was doing some kind of ritual and Harry came running. I don't think I've ever seen him that mad, even during the war. When I was released I went to see Croaker. Once I was done with him and the others I went to Kingsley. He let me know about the opening here. He's trying to get the Department of Mysteries shut down. I don't think he'll have much trouble, especially with Harry breathing down his neck."

"What of Weasley, where's he been in all of this?"

She gave a mirthless laugh, and looked out the window. "He doesn't know anything about it. He thinks I have PTSD and that Harry is helping me work through it."

Severus leaned back in his chair and studied the woman sitting across from him. While there were still traces of the over eager student he had once known, she was now a fully realized witch. Something that took many people decades to become, if at all. He watched as she spaced out, staring out the window. After waiting a few minutes he cleared his throat to get her attention, causing her to jump slightly. She turned back to him with an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry Severus, I got lost in thought there. Any chance we could continue this talk later? I'm feeling rather exhausted."

He briefly inclined his head as he stood up and straightened his robes. Walking back through the fireplace, he looked around at his freshly cleaned room. Sitting down, he stared into the fireplace, his thoughts swirling around in his head like a storm. It wasn't until he was lying in bed staring at the ceiling that he realized his ever present migraine was gone.

 _ **Short chapter this time guys, I had to get this part out of the way so I could continue on with the story line.**_


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione woke up the next morning feeling better than she had in ages. Even though the conversation the night before had not gone to plan at all. The damn man always did have a way of getting what he wanted and turning the tables on her, well almost always. After a quick shower, and twisting her hair up into a messy bun she headed down to the kitchens. Once again greeted by a swarm of house elves she asked to see the elderly one from before. After being shown to him she explained to him why Severus hadn't been eating, as well as giving him a few tips for his future meals. She then watched as he had a section of the kitchen set aside to prepare his food. Satisfied that the change might tempt him to eat, she headed to the Great Hall, and took her seat the at the head table. She watched as the students began to filter and eat. Noticing a few troublemakers, she smirked to herself remembering all the trouble she, Harry, and Ron had gotten into. That mostly being due to a certain Marauders Map that was currently sitting in her robe pocket. Harry had demanded she take it, on the off chance that she needed to avoid anyone. She snorted into her cup avoid anyone indeed. It wasn't as if she was some errant student getting up to no good anymore.

She hadn't realized anyone was sitting beside her until she heard them ask her a question. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I asked if you were nervous about your first day of teaching?"

Inwardly groaning she turned to see Quentin sitting beside her, "Not at all. There isn't much they could do that I already haven't."

He let out a deep laugh, "That's true. Who do you have for your first class?"

"A group of Ravenclaw and Slytherin first years. Should be easy enough, at first it's mostly just coursework."

"Aye it should be, but you'd be surprised. They don't have much control over their magic yet, they have more outbursts at first instead of using their wands."

"That's because wands are meant to be a focusing tool. The first witches and wizards didn't use them. Ollivander's was not established until 382 BC, and society existed before then. It is natural to have outbursts until you learn to focus your powers through your wand," she said matter-of-factly, hearing a snigger from father down the table. Leaning forwards, she seen Neville grinning at her over the top of his cup of juice.

Quentin stared at her a moment, looked down at his plate, then back at her. His mouth opening repeatedly like a fish out of water as he tried to think of something to say. Then he excused himself, feigning some uncompleted task. She watched him go, a small smile playing about her lips.

"Well done 'Mione! I must say it's nice having someone who can shut him down like that. He acts like he knows everything, constantly trying to shoving it in everyone's faces. You can tell it's just an act, and it's very annoying," Neville explained, causing her to chuckle.

"Well if you are going to act like a know-it-all then you really need to be able to be to back it up. Maybe next time he will choose to sit by someone a little less knowledgeable," she replied still laughing. "Some people do have to learn the hard way after all."

Neville grimaced, "Yeah… I learned almost everything the hard way. It's not as fun as it sounds."

"Look at you now though. You are a teacher at Hogwarts, passing along that knowledge to the next generation and then some. Also, don't forget, you still have to show me around the greenhouses."

"Anytime! Just come by, and if you need any ingredients for potions just let me know." He gushed, a slight blush creeping up his neck.

Looking out at the hall and seeing students begin to leave, Hermione sighed, "I'll see you later Neville, I would like to get there before my students do."

It wasn't until her fourth class of the morning that she ran into any trouble. It was her first class of seventh years, a mixture of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. She had had them all get an object from her desk, and asked them to do their most difficult transfiguration spell. Her plan had been to evaluate what level they were at. Instead one of the Ravenclaw students, a girl named Jaime Benson, had caused an explosion. Reacting instinctively she had diverted the blast to the ceiling, leaving it a smokey black color. She strode over to the girl, trying to calm her racing heart.

"Ms. Benson, are you alright?"

The young girl looked up at her shaking, black smudges covering her face. "Y-yes maam. I'm terribly sorry about that."

"What object did you have and what were you trying to turn it into?"

"I didn't take an object professor. I was trying the Inanimatus Conjurus Spell."

Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose, briefly closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. "Your assignment was to use your highest level transfiguration spell. Not the highest level one that exists. Even Headmistress McGonagall has a very hard time with that spell and she has been teaching for decades. That's 5 points from Ravenclaw, and I want everyone to write a 3 foot essay on the Inanimatus Conjurus Spell. Describe what they spell is, how it works, and why it is dangerous to use it. Now, Ms. Benson, please go get an object and do the assignment."

"Yes ma'am," Jaime said quietly.

She turned to see all the other students staring at her, a look of awe and wariness on their faces. "What?"

"Professor, you diverted that wandlessly without a spell," the boy closest to her replied.

"Ah, well I grew up into a time of war. Learning certain techniques were a necessity. Now, back to the assignment at hand, over half of you still haven't succeeded yet." She strode back up to her desk, leaned against it, and watched to see who was struggling and who was already done. "Remember, if you are struggling you can use a lesser spell. I'm just trying to get a feel of where you are at."

Thirty minutes later seen the last of the students for the morning filing out of the classroom door. She summoned all of the objects used for the lesson and transfigured them back to their originals forms. After putting them all back in the closet she headed to her rooms, foregoing walking all the way back down to the Great Hall. She'd had all of about five minutes to herself when McGonagall walked out of the flames in her fire place, a wry smile on her face.

"I heard you had a bit of an accident in your last class?"

"Heard?" She inquired cocking her head to the side.

"The castle clued me in. Mind telling me what happened?"

"Hermione scoffed, " A Seventh year Ravenclaw, named Jaime, tried to conjure something out of thin air. It backfired and caused an explosion. I managed to divert most of it towards the ceiling. Which is currently almost completely black."

The Headmistress huffed in exasperation, "That girl knows more than she knows what to do with. I'm afraid to say that probably won't be her last explosion this year. She could give Mr. Finnigan a run for his money."

Hermione shifted through her memories, remembering her own mess up, and trying to think of a way to avoid it. Then it hit her, "Have you thought of showing her the Room of Requirement? That is where we met for Dumbledore's Army and it held all of those explosions and backfires just fine."

A gleam entered McGonagall's eyes, "That is a splendid idea! And since you have experience in that area, would you mind keeping an eye on her while she is in there? That way she doesn't do herself harm? Oh come now, it was your idea after all."

"Any chance you'd do me a favor in return?"

"Just name it," McGonagall said, a grin spreading across her face.

"Oh I will be, at a later date. In the meantime I'll go catch Ms. Benson while she is still at lunch."

"Thank you, I do hope the rest of your classes today go smoothly." With that being said the elderly woman turned around and went back through the fireplace.

Hermione made a sandwich and headed down the numerous flights of stairs. Trying to figure out which evenings she would volunteer. She had been planning on using the Room of Requirement to work out a few theories herself, and she still needed to leave herself time to grade papers. Someone one grabbed her arm and spun her around, just as she was walking into the Great Hall. She looked up into the frustrated face of Severus Snape.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, this story has not been abandoned. I've just been overwhelmed by life. I found out my son is autistic, so between juggling therapies, changes at home, moving, and doctor's visits it's been hectic. Then I had to sell my computer to pay for stuff he needed. So I'm currently trying to do all of this on my phone which isn't the easiest. But I promise I will see this story out to the end.**

"Did you have the house elves start preparing specific foods for me?"

"Yes I did. Someone needed to since you couldn't be bothered to take the time and do it yourself."

Severus glared down at the witch standing in front of him. From barging into his rooms last night, to making changes to his food; no wonder they had bickered so much when they were searching. Meddlesome as she was. "I do not need a caretaker. I'm neither invalid nor incapable of doing so myself."

"Did the smells coming off the food make you nauseous?"

"That is hardly-"

"Did they, Severus? Answer the question," She demanded, crossing her arms.

"No, they did not," He bit out.

"But I can bet you still didn't try to eat any of it. What with you being a stubborn ass and all. Now if that's your only issue, I need to go talk to a student."

He watched her stalk off with a glower on his face before letting out a soft growl. Damn woman, it wasn't her job to take care of him. She'd done enough when she'd brought him back to life. It had taken him a while to figure that out. That she didn't owe him an explanation for what had happened that night. If he were honest with himself their argument two years ago had stemmed more from him not knowing what to do with his life. He had never planned to live through the war, and for once he didn't have two different masters breathing down his neck barking out orders. He hadn't been ready to face everyone then, and he had lashed out at her about it. She had summarily dismissed him then as she had just done now. He admitted this morning, when the house elves had delivered fresh food, that maybe her words did have an inkling of truth to them. Not that he'd let her know, she would never shut up about it.

He was more worried about how she was teaching herself to control her magic since she had unbound it. Blocking out emotions might work for a while, but it was more like a bandaid. Sooner or later she would lose complete control, and the damage afterwards could be horrendous; both to her and the surroundings. He had been in the library since early that morning looking for books on unbinding one's magic. Naturally there had been a very limited few in the restricted section, and they had been mostly precautionary warnings on why one should not do it. She had also put another damper on his theory of a binding spell. If her magic had broken her free of the spells of the Department of Mystery used in induction, it would have definitely done so with a meager binding spell. Yet, his constant companion of a migraine had disappeared last night, had not made a reappearance, and he was entirely sure it was due to her showing up.

So now he was back at square one, without any idea of where to start looking for answers. The only other place to look was the Library of Alexandria, and the head librarian there was worse than Pince when it came to letting people touch the books. In all the years he and Dumbledore had tried to get in, not once had they been allowed. He didn't know if it was due to a discord between Dumbledore and the head librarian, or the fact that he was a death eater. Either way it wouldn't hurt to send another letter asking for entrance. He turned away from the Great Hall and made his way up to the second floor.

Hermione stopped and sat down beside the person she had been looking for. "Ms. Benson, a word of you please?"

The girl turned a wary face towards her, "Yes, professor?"

"I'd like to offer you an opportunity to test your theories in a safe environment. Under supervision, of course. It would be on Tuesdays and Thursdays after dinner, and I would need to know what you are working on beforehand. That way I can take the necessary precautions in case of an accident. Would you like that?"

Jaime's face lit up, "Of course, Professor! But where would we meet?"

"I'm sure you've heard of the Room of Requirement. Needless to say that means you will quit attempting stuff other than your lessons in classes. Meet me on the seventh floor and I'll show you where it is. Let's say 6:45 on Thursday, then?"

"Yes ma'am, I'll be there."

As Hermione got up and walked away she could hear the excited whispers coming from behind her. She smiled, on the upside, it was only halfway through the first day, and already she had broken her record for setting up something potentially dangerous. On the downside, she was starting to get one hell of a headache.

Later that evening she was curled up in a chair going over her lesson plans when she heard someone knock at the door. She waved her wand and the door opened to reveal a very haggard looking Harry leaning against the doorframe. He slowly shuffled in and dropped into a chair across from her, running a hand down his face. Even though he was sitting down his body was still tense. His beard was longer since the last time she had seen him almost a week ago, and his hair, that was usually pulled back, looked like it hadn't been brushed in several days. The only thing that looked clean on him were his clothes, but she could tell that was merely due to a hastily cast cleaning spell. Instead of breaking the silence, she got up and made him a cup of tea, knowing that he would talk when he was ready. She set it on the table beside him and cast a warming spell on it. She was absorbed in her lessons again when she felt the shift in the air as he finally relaxed.

"Could you have picked a high floor to live on?" He picked up his tea and took a sip.

"Could you look any more like a hobo?"

"What this?" He asked, gesturing to himself, "This is just from having to climb all those damn stairs. I looked amazing before I got here."

"Har har, I can smell you from all the way over here. What the hell have you been doing? You were supposed to stop by before I left a few days ago."

"Ah, that would be why McGonagall had that pinched look on her face when she was rushing me out of her office. As for the being four days late, that was when I thought we were going to be done with the training exercise. Jenkins on the other hand had other ideas. We've moved on to the survival part of the training course. He surrendered his wand, and picked everything he thought he would need, then proceeded to walk into every possible bad decision he could think of. I think he was trying to impress me." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I sent him back to the beginning of the course more than once because of it. The perks of being Head Auror. I kept him out there until he figured out it wasn't a joke. By then he didn't even have a quarter of what he started out with. Made the last two days very long. He kept stopping to glare at me when I would eat or drink something, and wouldn't give him any."

"Were you testing where he was at, or was this the one that you do after training?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. The auror training program was strict, and had been all of their ideas, Harry, Ron, and hers. The survival training had been Harry's idea, which was why he was the one to oversee every single candidate.

"Testing where he was at. After he got finally made it through I asked him if he was serious about the program or if he was just dicking off. He said he was serious about it, so I passed him. Told him that he would have to pass the other two stages with flying colors for me to do the final survival stage." He sighed, and leaned back in the seat. "I know it was a good idea to do both survival parts, to see how they progress, and both of you agreed with me. Should have talked me down to just one at the end of the program though."

She laughed as she got up and grabbed a towel from the linen closet. After tossing it to him she pointed to the bathroom, "Go shower. I'm assuming you went straight home and she wouldn't let you in?"

"Yeah I think she's mad about me being gone so long. I did send her a couple patronuses though."

"She's not. I got an owl earlier complaining about the smell. It really is that bad. Now go on, get." She watched as he got up and headed to the bathroom. "Set your clothes outside the door, I'll get them washed. You always did suck at cleaning charms."

"Oh well, sorry we can't all be the great and powerful Hermione Granger," he joked. Then quickly closed the door before the book she had in her hand hit the door. She could hear him laughing through the door and it made her smile.

"Not at all. Some of us just have to have egos the size of Hogwarts, because we died to save the world!"She yelled back.

One of the many things she missed from before the stint at the D.o.M. was the regular dinners they had had at the Weasleys. All of them around a table joking and picking on each other. After her induction she hadn't been able to make it to most dinners. The ones she had been there for, she hadn't been in the frame of mind to join in on the conversation. That's when her and Ron's relationship had started going downhill, and eventually ended. She couldn't tell him why she was 'acting like a completely different person'. Surprisingly neither she, nor Ron, had been upset over the break up. Molly, on the other hand, had refused to talk to Ron for weeks, until Hermione explained to her that just because they were no longer together that didn't mean she wouldn't come around anymore. That she had just been busy at work, and it gave her little time for anything else, including relationships. It hadn't been the best choice of words, despite the fact that Ron had recently gotten engaged to a fellow auror named Serenity. Molly still thought that eventually they were going to get back together. A thought that no one had been able to dissuade her of. She walked over to the window and looked out at the Great Lake. The giant squid was lazily making its way around the shallows. She was still watching it when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking around she seen Harry staring at her with a concerned look on his face.

"You ok 'Mione? I've been trying to get your attention for a bit."

"Sorry, Harry. I was watching the giant squid." She turned around and looked him over again. His beard was gone and his hair was back up where it usually was, "You look a lot better than you did. Ginny will probably let you back in the house now. Hey, why didn't you clean up at the Ministry of Magic? You guys do have showers there."

"We do, but I was ready to get home. Then after talking to Ginny, she said she hadn't heard from you, I realized that I hadn't either. It made me worry. So I came here."

"Thank you for checking on me. It's been rather busy. Only the first day and I've already had one student try to blow everyone up. I've also set up times for said student to work her ideas out so it doesn't happen again. Just like the old days," she avoided mentioning having seen and talked to Severus. "I've sold my flat, so I'll have to look for something next spring."

"You know you are always welcome at our house. We have extra rooms."

"I couldn't do that to you guys. Especially not now that I've got to start from scratch controlling my magic. Merlin knows how long that's going to take." She laughed, "Remember how my hair used to fizz up and crackle with magic when I got mad? Besides, you live in town. I'm not so sure I want to anymore. Lately the idea of living in the country sounds better and better. Less damage that way if something was to happen"

"C'mon Hermione. Isn't that why you took the job here? So the wards would help while you're learning to control your magic? By next summer your control should be back to where it was. You've been doing great the past two months."

"Oh please, Harry," she gave a self-deprecating laugh. "I take it you haven't read the reports sitting on your desk from where you've been gone. I had a lapse in control last night. One strong enough to set off the alarms at the Ministry. That lapse was merely due to someone asking me a question that had a negative memory tied to it. There's a chance that I will never be fully in control of my magic again. Hell, I did wandless magic today without a second thought about it the repercussions. I had a headache for hours."

She ducked her head and shoved her hands into her pockets. Harry stared at her a moment before putting his hands on her shoulders and resting his forehead on top of her head. "I know that you are scared. I also know that you are one of the strongest people I've ever met. You kept Ron and I alive through the dumbest stuff that I don't even know how you did it without killing us yourself. So I need you to understand that if you ever need anything that you can come to us. I understand that you couldn't before due to the oaths you took, but you can now. Even if it's just to rant and rave so you can figure something out. You're the closest family I have and I let you down. The way I see it, I owe you more than the possibility of you losing control and doing damage."

"You don't owe me anything. I chose to do what I did by myself so that no one else could be implicated in it. As it stands, I should be in Azkaban for what I did, self defense or not. It's still illegal to tamper with people's memories. That is something that I will have to live with the rest of my life. Now can we please change the subject?" She looked up at him, "And you can quit frowning at me like that. Save that look for your wife."

He scoffed, "It doesn't work on her either. Sometimes I think she likes to argue just to see me get worked up."

"And I bet you love every minute of it don't you?"

"Yeah well, don't tell her that. She'll stop and then I won't be able to have any fun at all. Speaking of my lovely wife, I really do need to get back to her. She has a game on the third and there was some stuff we were supposed to get done before she leaves for that."

"Tell her good luck for me. Are we still planning on meeting up at the Three Broomsticks Sunday?" She asked as they walked over to the door.

"That's the plan. I'll see you then, okay?" He hugged her before he closed the door behind him.

She yawned as she looked over at the chair where she had been sitting, the lesson plans laying in the seat and shook her head. They would have to wait until lunch tomorrow for her to finish them. She picked out a book from one of the numerous shelves on her bedroom and curled up in bed.


	7. Chapter 7

"What are you doing, Mr. Adams?" Hermione looked down at the first year Hufflepuff who was drawing on his parchment. "You are supposed to be copying notes from the board."

He looked up at her and smiled wryly, "I've already written them down. I got bored so I started working on a comic I started in Potions."

"Comic?" She inquired, arching her eyebrows.

"Yes ma'am, you know it's-"

She sighed, "I know what a comic is Mr. Adams. That is something you should be doing on your own time, not in class. If you are done copying the notes, then this is the time to review them. That way you will have more free time to make your comics later, in a better setting."

She turned around and slowly made her way back to the front of the classroom. Overall she had not had any unmanageable problems in the few weeks she had been teaching. At least not on the teaching side. Sometimes she had to redirect interest to her lessons when a student would ask questions about the war. On occasion she had caught a few braver sixth and seventh years openly staring at her. After that she had taken to wearing looser robes around the castle. She leaned against the edge of her desk and slowly looked across the room. No one was looking up at the board, which meant that all of them were done.

"Okay guys, since it looks like everyone is done copying notes, then you are all free to go. Remember that next class we will be practicing this spell, so use the extra time to study form and incantation. Starting study groups would be great at this time of the year. You can help each other out more than you think, whether it is with form or pronunciation. It is more important than you know. I knew a guy who blew up a feather merely by trying to levitate it."

She watched them file out before looking over at the window with a frown. It had been raining for almost four days straight and showed no signs of slowing down. It was causing an uptake in pranks and students out after dark due to boredom. Due to this all teachers were required to patrol the halls in an attempt to curb the desire to run amok around the castle. The irony wasn't lost on her that she was out preventing students from something she had done quite a bit as a student herself.

Her evenings in the Room of Requirement were going surprisingly well. Jaime had been working on a modified sleeping potion that she was hoping would allow the person to astral project. She was very adept at potions, and so far there hadn't been any explosions. Hermione chuckled quietly to herself, _I probably just jinxed myself._ It was a Thursday though, so she had to meet her in the Room of Requirement after dinner. The room had once again outdone itself in meeting their needs. It manifested as two seperate rooms, divided by a thin see through wall. Jaime's side looked just like the potions room in the dungeons, while Hermione's was mostly empty with just a chair and a small side table. Her fear of losing control of her magic with Jaime in close proximity to her was almost overpowering, so at the moment she was merely stuck doing research.

On the upside, she hadn't lost control on her magic since the first evening back in Severus' rooms. She also hadn't seen him since the next afternoon when he had confronted her in front of the Great Hall. The few times she had gone to his rooms to check on him there had been no answer at the door, nor any sounds coming from within. Her conversation with Draco still nagged at the back of her mind. Had she unknowingly cast a dark curse in order to bring him back? If it was true, it wasn't like she had consciously done so. However, with the facts staring her in the face, it was starting to become harder to push them to the back of her mind as she had done before. If he was sick after their argument and his health continued to decline the longer he was away from her then, she really needed to figure out what was going on. It was also what lead her to try and talk to him on more than one occasion, to no avail. When she had asked Minerva the woman had waved her concerns aside and told her that it was nothing out of the normal for him. She remembered how he used to come in and out of Grimmauld Place with barely any notice from anyone within, and wondered if he was using his experience from being a double agent to avoid her. It wouldn't really surprise her all that much, she had been a bit bossy when she heard and seen that he was in ill health. Especially when he had been close to a picture of health when last she had seen him.

A clap of lightning startled her out of her out of her reverie and she once again glanced out the window with a groan. She was supposed to go see Neville, and the idea of sloshing through the water around the greenhouses was rather unappealing. She let out a heavy sigh and reached up to twist her hair into a low bun. She grabbed her cloak off the back of her chair and slowly made her way down to the entrance hall. She seen Neville standing just by the doors and smiled. Despite her protests, he had insisted that he walk her down to the greenhouses. He smiled wanly when he saw her, looking more haggard than she had ever seen him.

"Neville, are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine 'Mione, just tired. Despite my protection charms, greenhouse three keeps trying to flood and that's the one that I have the desert plants in. So I've been staying there for the past two days, if any of the plants get too wet they'll be ruined." He rubbed a hand down his face. "I know it sounds weird, but I have a closer relationship with my plants than I do with most other people. Some of these plants I've been cultivating for years."

"Want me to take a look? I might not be the best at herbology, but I am fairly decent with wards. I have had plenty of practice after all."

A hopeful look crossed his face, "Would you mind? My next step is going to McGonagall and I don't want to bother her just now, she is in a school board meeting."

"Of course I don't mind. Come on, let's go have a look."

A few minutes later she slowly made her way around greenhouse three with a slight frown on her face. She had just watched him put the ward back up, and already it was starting to fade away. She shook her head and slowly placed her hand on what little bit remained of it. She then made her way over to the other greenhouses to find that none of them had wards in place,

"Uh, Neville? How often are you having to renew your wards on the greenhouses?"

"Every couple of weeks or so. Usually when I notice that they are starting to fade. Like I said, I'm not the best at wards. What's going on?"

"None of your greenhouses have wards on them, and as soon as you cast the one on greenhouse three it started to fade away." She walked back over to where he stood and put her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side. "What protection charms are you using?"

He scratched the back of his head, "Just the basic ones we learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Pomona said that they would be enough to do-" He looked at her sharply, "Did you say that none of my greenhouses have them?"

She nodded staring at the greenhouses, missing the panicked look on his face. When she turned back to him he was running down to the last one on the left. She quickly followed him and went inside right behind him. Looking around she realized that something was wrong, there were pots turned over, dirt strewn all over the place, and that some pots were altogether missing. Neville just stood staring at the mess with a look of shock on his face, muttering under his breath.

"Neville, what was in this greenhouse?"

He finally turned to look at her, his mouth opening and closing several times before he managed to say anything. "Most of my more dangerous plants. This greenhouse was keyed specifically to my magic. I don't understand how this could have happened."

"More dangerous how?"

"Some were dangerous to touch, others were used in the more dangerous potions, sleeping draughts, poisons, stuff like that. A couple though were experimental plants, I managed to create a few hybrids, but I have no idea what they are capable of. Most of those were still too small to be able to tell." He ran his hands through his hair, "What am I going to do? Who would be able to do this without me knowing about it?"

Hermione watched him walk around and mutter for a few minutes before she grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. "First, you need to go alert Minerva, this takes precedence over a school board meeting. Then you need to send a patronus to Harry and tell him what's happened and that he needs to get here. This isn't just a random coincidence. Someone planned this."

He stared at her and slowly nodded, then turned and hastily made his way out of the greenhouse. She then walked over to the side of the small building and placed her hand on the wall. Closing her eyes she tried to focus on any lingering magic. She could feel the lingering magic from Neville's shield, and layering over that was a tangle of magic that she couldn't make sense of. So caught up in trying to sort it out, she almost screamed when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She spun around, her wand pointed at the person that had snuck up on her. She blinked in surprise at Severus standing there beside Neville and McGonagall.

"I didn't hear you all come in."

Severus raised an eyebrow at her and looked from her wand to her, "That much is obvious. Mind sharing with the rest of us what had you so engrossed?"

She tucked her wand back up into her arm holster and shrugged her shoulders. "I was trying to untangle the residual magic surrounding the greenhouse."

"Residual magic?" The look of confusion on McGonagall's face was skeptical.

"Yes. Magic usually leaves behind traces if you know how to find them. I could sense Neville's, but there is someone else's there, and it's a mess."

"And just how do you go about finding these traces of magic?" Severus asked, crossing his arms.

"Come here, place your hand on the wall and concentrate." She stepped back so he could stand beside her.

He closed his eyes and placed a hand on the wall, the crease between his eyebrows becoming more prominent. After a few minutes he looked at her and shook his head, "I can't feel anything."

She huffed in frustration and impulsively placed her hand over his, barely noticing when he flinched at the contact, "Close your eyes and concentrate again." Slowly she pushed her magic through their hands until she found the tangle from before. She looked over at it to gauge his reaction and found him staring at her with a frown on his face. "I'm serious, close your eyes."

After watching him to make sure he did, she once again pushed and knew he felt it when he jerked in surprise and cocked his head to the side. "Do you feel that?"

"Yes. What is that off to the side by itself?"

"That's what's left from Neville's shields. This tangle over here has to be from whoever broke in. But I can't make heads nor tails of it. It's like they used a whole lot of spells to do what just one could have." She turned and looked at Neville, "Who all has been in here or have you told anyone about it?"

He frowned, "The only people that have been in here are the four of us and Slughorn. Pomona knows about it, I've asked her a few questions about some of the hybrids. Other than that I haven't told anyone."

"This tangle you are talking about, could you feel any of my magic magic in it?" McGonagall asked suddenly.

Hermione looked over at Severus and shook her head, "I'm not sure. Why would your magic be here?"

"The castle's wards are keyed to whoever the current headmaster or headmistress. The wards usually alert me if something serious happens. Like the explosion on your first day here. I didn't feel anything from this though. Which means that they aren't just messing with Neville's wards, they're messing with the castle's as well. I need to alert the school board. If you will excuse me," She turned and hurried out of the greenhouse.

"You might not have told anyone else, but if someone got Slughorn drunk enough he would tell them anything they want to know. We all know that firsthand." Severus snarked, staring hard at Neville. "I suggest you start there. Go ask him if he has talked to anyone, even in passing."

Severus watched Neville all but scurry out the door then turned his head to look at Hermione, then at their hands. Hers wasn't just over his anymore, she had for some reason wrapped her hand around his. He had flinched at first when she had touched him, mainly due to the fact that anyone rarely did so. Once he got over the initial shock he realized that the body aches he had been experiencing over the past week had completely disappeared. Looking at her now he found she had her other hand on her forehead with a slightly pained expression on her face. He studied her for a few more minutes before clearing his throat, catching her attention, then pointedly looking at their hands. She followed his gaze and immediately go, turning a light shade of pink. Inwardly chuckling, he watched her take a few steps backwards in embarrassment. Never one to give up an opportunity such as this he walked towards her until he had her trapped against the wall.

"Tell me, Miss Granger, any particular reason why you were holding my hand?"

"I-i…It wasn't intentional. I mean helping you feel the residual magic was, b-but not continuing to hold it like that. I-i must have done it subconsciously when my head started hurting again and…" She trailed off, turning an even brighter shade of pink.

"And is it common for you to want to hold hands with someone when your head hurts? I imagine that must have been very uncomfortable for your friends growing up." He drawled, finally close enough that she had to look up to see him.

She shook her head and frowned, "I never had headaches like this growing up. These didn't start until I unbound my magic. And before you say it, no I don't go around randomly grabbing hands when i get one. I already had a hold of yours."

"Did I say anything about that?"

"Not yet, but it was coming. I could see it in your eyes, and just why are you staring at me like that?"

He smirked "Like what Miss Granger?"

"Like-like the cat that ate the canary. All smug and pompous."

Letting out a chuckle he leaned down until they were eye to eye. "Because you are just so easy to embarrass."

"I am not embarrassed!" She all but shouted.

"I see. You might want to let your face know that. I don't think I have ever seen anyone turn so pink so fast. Now just why would you be embarrassed about something as simple as grabbing my hand due to being in pain?"

"What are you playing at Severus? Why are you doing this?"

"Maybe I'm trying to see just how far that color will spread, or maybe I'm trying to see just how far you will let me push before you push back. I might be trying to see how much control you have over your magic before it slips again. I've seen how you control it, and I must say, you aren't doing a very good job of it. You are more dependent on your wand than ever before when it should be the other way around."

"I'll have you know that I know better than anyone else what can happen if I lose control. You ever read the book by Angus Larch? The one about rare instances of magic controlling your body and acting on any impulsive thought that runs through your head? Doesn't matter what that thought is. And yes, I'm dependent on my wand more than ever, mainly due to the fact that anytime I use wandless magic my head starts pounding. As evidenced a few minutes ago. So unless you think you can do a better job of helping me control it, I suggest you butt out." She snapped at him, poking him in the chest.

"What if I can help you control it, in a safer way?" The question rolled off his tongue before he could stop it. "Would you let me help you? Or are you going to try and continue on the way you have been?"

She drew back as far as the wall would allow her. "Why would you want to help? I ruined your life remember?"

"I may have been a bit mad when I said that to you. While it wasn't my choice to be here, there is obviously a reason. This may be it. I won't lie though, my offer to help is not completely altruistic. I've noticed that since you have been here I have not suffered as many headaches, nor have the ones I have had been so severe. And when you placed your hand over mine, the body aches I've been suffering from the past week or so went away. So if I can help you, maybe in return you will help me. From what I've been able to find, when you unbound your magic it also broke whatever bond there is between us on your side. It should work the same way for me as well," He took a couple steps back and crossed his arms. Looking for all the world like it wasn't crucial that she accepted his offer. But seeing as she was the only person he knew that had successfully done so made it vital that she agreed to help. If only so that he didn't bleed out and die in some field.

"Weren't you just yelling at me a few weeks ago about this? How dangerous and stupid it was? Something about delusions of grandeur? And just where the hell have you been? I've been knocking on your door for weeks now!" She shouted, her embarrassment turning to anger.

He shrugged, "I've been at the Library of Alexandria. It's one of the few places we didn't look into."

"That's because the current head librarian told us that she didn't have anything in their collection that would help us."

"Not about what spell was used, no. But she does quite a few books about the side effects of unbinding one's magic. Now, will you let me help you, and in return you help me?"

When all she did was continue to glare at him he turned around and slowly made his way around the ransacked greenhouse. Most of the overturned pots had been either stripped of any useful ingredients or pulled up by the roots, the whole plant gone. The only reason he could think of that they had done that, was because those plants were ready to be harvested. Whereas the pots that were gone weren't ready yet for whatever was planned. That meant they had a bit of time to try and figure out who was behind this before anything happened. Hopefully the person was just after the plants to try and sell the ingredients on the wizards version of a black market. Neville had told him enough that he couldn't even begin to fathom the kind of trouble someone could cause if used in the school. He heard Hermione walk up behind him and turned his head to look at her. She had a consternated look on her face and the longer he watched her the worse it became.

"You want to do this on the fall solstice don't you?"

"Preferably. Winter solstice at the latest."

"You think I can get control that fast?" She asked skeptically.

"You forget Miss Granger, I'm a teacher and you have always been a quick study. We can start this weekend if that will fit into your plans."

"Yes, I suppose it will. Shall I meet you at your rooms Saturday morning?"

"Yes. Now if you'll excuse me. I believe Potter has heard enough out there." With the said, he looked at the door and an unapologetic Harry stepped into the doorway. "You still haven't managed to get an ounce of self preservation have you?"

"Of course not, Professor. Then again, not all of us got to perfect our stealth by skulking around the dungeons for years on end," Harry said with smirk.

"Touche," Severus drawled, walking towards the door, pausing without looking back. "Until Saturday, Miss Granger."


End file.
